The Ortonovo, Italy farmhouse where Amerigo Lorenzini's rifle failed him as entities took his rabbits, November 14, 1954.
THINK ABOUTIT
UFO|UAP & ENTITY ENCOUNTER REPORT
1954: The Ortonovo, Italy Encounter — Amerigo Lorenzini
A dazzling light dropped Amerigo Lorenzini to the ground outside his own home, and when he came to, a cigar-shaped craft sat glowing in a nearby clearing, small diving-suited figures moving toward his rabbit hutch with the unhurried confidence of people who already knew exactly where they were going. He fetched his rifle. It wouldn’t fire — not once, not twice — and by the time it grew too heavy to even hold, his rabbits were already gone, carried off inside a craft that vanished toward Avenza in a trail brighter than anything that had lit the scene before it.
Date: November 14, 1954
Sighting Time: Afternoon
Day/Night: Day
Location: Ortonovo, La Spezia, Italy
Urban or Rural: Rural (farm)
No. of Entity(‘s): Multiple (“a group”)
Entity Type: Humanoid
Entity Description: Small in stature; wore metal, diving-suit-like uniforms that covered even their faces; spoke to one another in low-pitched voices
Hynek Classification: CE-III (Close Encounter, Third Kind — entities present at close range, no direct communication with the witness)
Duration: Several minutes, from the entities’ emergence to the craft’s departure
No. of Object(s): 1
Description of the Object(s): A cigar-shaped object surrounded by a luminous halo, with a hatch on one side
Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Cigar-shaped; luminous halo surrounding it, brightening further on departure
Distance to Object(s): Landed in a clearing near Lorenzini’s home; he observed from his own doorway, nearly hidden from view
Height & Speed: Took off very rapidly toward Avenza, leaving a bright trail more intense than the halo present during landing
Number of Witnesses: 1 (Amerigo Lorenzini, 48)
Special Features/Characteristics: Lorenzini was placing grass in a rabbit hutch outside his home when he heard a swishing sound, like a flock of swallows, mixed with a metallic noise from above; looking up, he was blinded by a dazzling light and passed out briefly, waking once the light had gone out; he then saw the cigar-shaped, halo-surrounded craft that had landed in a nearby clearing, and a hatch opened, releasing a group of small entities in metal diving-suit-like uniforms; the beings moved directly toward Lorenzini’s rabbit hutch with no apparent hesitation, as though already familiar with the location; retreating to his house doorway, Lorenzini watched them show clear interest in the rabbits; he retrieved a rifle and aimed it at the creatures twice, but it failed to fire either time; on his third attempt, the rifle became too heavy for him to hold and he was forced to drop it; he then found himself unable to shout despite trying; he watched the entities take all the rabbits and re-board the craft, which then departed rapidly toward Avenza, leaving a very bright trail; only after the object had departed was Lorenzini able to retrieve the rifle and fire it successfully, though far too late to have any effect; in shock, he called out to nearby people and showed them the emptied hutch
Case Status: Unresolved — a single-witness account with a specific, repeated weapon-malfunction detail consistent with similar claims elsewhere in this archive’s 1954 record
Source: Maurizio Verga, “When Saucers Came to Earth”
Summary/Description: On the afternoon of November 14, 1954, 48-year-old farmer Amerigo Lorenzini, placing grass in a rabbit hutch outside his home in Ortonovo, La Spezia, Italy, heard a swishing, metallic noise and was blinded by a dazzling light from above, briefly passing out. He then saw a cigar-shaped, halo-surrounded craft that had landed in a nearby clearing; a group of small entities in metal diving-suit-like uniforms emerged and moved with apparent familiarity toward his rabbit hutch. Lorenzini retreated to his doorway and retrieved a rifle, but it failed to fire on two attempts, then became too heavy to hold; he also found himself unable to shout. He watched the entities take all his rabbits and depart rapidly toward Avenza in a bright trail. Only after they left could he fire the rifle successfully. In shock, he showed neighbors the emptied hutch.
Related Cases: The apparent weapon malfunction here parallels the June 1954 Gubskaya-Barakayevskaya, North Caucasus, Russia case, in which armed witnesses similarly found their rifles inoperable after encountering an entity.
Detailed Report
Amerigo Lorenzini, forty-eight years old, was doing nothing more remarkable than putting grass into a rabbit hutch outside his home in Ortonovo, La Spezia, Italy, on the afternoon of November 14, 1954, when a sound reached him from above — a swishing noise, like the passage of a flock of swallows, mixed with something more mechanical, a metallic edge to it that didn’t belong. He looked up. What met him was a dazzling light, bright enough to blind him outright, and Lorenzini lost consciousness briefly, coming to only once the light itself had gone out.
What he found waiting for him when his vision cleared was a cigar-shaped object, wrapped in a luminous halo, resting in a clearing not far from his house. A hatch opened on its side, and out came a group of small figures, dressed head to toe in metal, diving-suit-like uniforms that covered even their faces. They moved with a confidence that struck Lorenzini as unsettling — no hesitation, no searching, no sign that they were unfamiliar with the ground they walked. They headed straight toward his rabbit hutch.
Lorenzini pulled back toward his own doorway, keeping himself nearly out of sight while he watched. The entities’ voices reached him in low pitches as they spoke to one another, entirely unconcerned with his presence. Their interest in the hutch and its contents became increasingly obvious, and Lorenzini, reading their gestures, became convinced they intended to take every rabbit he had.
He went inside for his rifle. Returning, he aimed and pulled the trigger. Nothing. He tried again. Still nothing. A third attempt proved impossible for a different reason entirely: the rifle had grown too heavy for him to hold, and he was forced to let it drop. He tried to shout for help. That, too, failed him — he found he simply couldn’t produce the sound.
All he could do was watch. The entities gathered up every rabbit in the hutch, carried them back to the craft, and boarded. The cigar-shaped object took off rapidly, heading in the direction of Avenza, trailing a light even more intense than the halo that had surrounded it while grounded. It was only once the craft and its occupants were gone that Lorenzini found he could retrieve his rifle and fire it — successfully this time, though there was nothing left to aim at. Still in shock, he called out to nearby neighbors and led them to the hutch, empty now of every rabbit it had held.
RESEARCHER’S NOTES
Ortonovo — 1954 and a Recurring Motif of Failed Weapons
- A specific, repeated weapon-malfunction sequence: Two failed trigger pulls followed by the rifle becoming too heavy to hold is a detailed, staged progression rather than a vague “it wouldn’t work” claim — and it closely parallels the June 1954 Gubskaya-Barakayevskaya, Russia case, where armed witnesses experienced a similar sudden and complete weapon failure.
- An apparent loss of voice alongside the weapon failure: Lorenzini’s inability to shout, layered on top of his rifle’s malfunction, suggests either a broader field effect impairing him physically or a psychological freeze responding to genuine terror — this archive notes both possibilities without resolving between them.
- Entities behaving with apparent prior familiarity with the site: Moving directly and confidently toward the rabbit hutch, without any searching behavior, is a specific detail that reads as targeted rather than opportunistic — though this archive cannot verify whether that impression reflects genuine foreknowledge or simply Lorenzini’s own retrospective interpretation.
- A concrete, checkable loss: Unlike many entity encounters where nothing tangible changes hands, this case ends with a specific, observable fact — an emptied rabbit hutch — that Lorenzini was able to show his neighbors immediately afterward as at least partial corroboration of his account.
- A single witness for the core narrative: While neighbors saw the empty hutch afterward, none witnessed the encounter itself, leaving Lorenzini’s account of the entities and the craft entirely uncorroborated by direct observation.
This case’s distinguishing feature is its detailed, staged weapon-malfunction sequence, echoing a pattern found elsewhere in this archive’s 1954 record, combined with a concrete physical consequence — the missing rabbits — that neighbors could verify even without having witnessed the encounter itself.
“He pulled the trigger, but the rifle did not fire. Lorenzini attempted once more, but he was still unsuccessful. At this point he had to drop the rifle, because it had become too heavy to hold.”
— Maurizio Verga, “When Saucers Came to Earth,” on Amerigo Lorenzini’s account, November 14, 1954
